SyncToy 2.0 for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.

There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality.

Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.

We have collected feedback from the discussion forum on the Windows XP Professional Photography web site, from customer feedback surveys, from a large number of professional and hobbyist photographers at Microsoft, and from various world-wide forums, sites, reviews and blogs on the web.

This soft removes the need to buy any other tool; I was previously using DirSync which I paid for, it has more advanced tracking and logging features as well as error reporting, but basic functionality is the same, keep two directories in SYNC including subfolders/files.

One things Sync Toy 2.0 does not do is allow you to automatically schedule it to run, you'll have to create your own schedulde task to make the soft run:

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Schedule SyncToy Sync Task in Windows Vista

1. Click on the Start menu, then select All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Task Scheduler.
2. Click on Create Basic Task in the “Actions” pane on the right.
3. In the “Create Basic Task Wizard”, type in a Name and Description. For example, SyncToy Synchronization.
4. Click on Next button.
5. Choose the frequency of when do you want the task to start. If you always make changes to the files, Daily is a good choice.
6. Click on Next button.
7. Choose date and times (if applicable) to trigger and run the task.
8. Click on Next button.
9. In the “Action” step, select Start a Program as the option for the task to perform.
10. Click on Next button.
11. Under “Program/Script”, click on Browse button and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe. Normally it’s located in “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0 Beta\SyncToyCmd.exe” for SyncToy 2.0 Beta.
12. In the “Add Arguments” textbox, type -R. –R will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R”folder pair name” to the end of the command line.

Note: there is a space before the hyphen but not one after the R. If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows. For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\ and that you want to run a folder pair named “My folder pair.” Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\SyncToyCmd.exe” -R”My folder pair.” Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case: one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.

Schedule a SyncToy Task in Windows XP

1. Go to the Start menu, select All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Scheduled Tasks.
2. Select Add scheduled task to start the Scheduled Task Wizard. You will see a list of possible programs to run.
3. SyncToy may appear as an option in the list. If SyncToy does not appear in the list, click Browse and locate the SyncToy executable. Normally it’s installed in Program Files directory.
4. The wizard will next prompt you to enter how often you want to run the scheduled SyncToy (for example, daily, weekly, et cetera). Select a frequency.
5. The next page asks when to start the task. Select a start time.
6. The next page asks for the user name and password to run the program under. Enter your user name and password. However, in SynToy 2.0, it’s not necessary for the defined user to log in to the computer. Different user or no one logged on is possible to have the task running too.
7. The final page contains an option to open the properties dialog when the wizard ends. Select this checkbox.
8. Modify the Run textbox to include the –R command line option. –R all by itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R“My Pair” to the end of the command line.

Note: there is a space before the hyphen but not one after the R. If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows. For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\My Folder and that you want to run a folder pair named “My folder pair.” Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\SyncToyCmd.exe” -R”My folder pair.” Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case: one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.

If you value your data, or even want to be able to restore deleted files; set up a sync pair between two HDDs with a folder where you drop your most important files in; it beats RAID as you can actually go back in time if you set the pairing to not delete files on the target